Progress Report:

INTRODUCTION:
What you will find in this report is a progress report for a new technology, called “Instant Voice-Text
Converter and Translator Device”. As the device name shows, what it does is to convert audio signal to
text (and vice versa) and do the translation on these files, if require. Another ability which would specify
this new idea from any already existing technology is that this device would have a USB port which
would enable it to get connected to a special printer for printing in Braille language.

This progress report identifies all the necessary tasks for completing the business plan proposal for this
device. The time period under consideration in this report is the time interval starting from September
24th 2010 till December 8th 2010. The tasks are categorized in three distinct groups: Completed tasks,
Tasks in progress and remaining tasks.

DISSCUSION:

Completed tasks:
So far, starting from Sept. 24th, our group has completed the following tasks:

 Initial identification of the market size:

The tourism industry in one of the target markets for this instant translator device. “Tourism has
become a popular global leisure activity. In 2008, there were over 922 million international tourist
arrivals, with a growth of 1.9% as compared to 2007. International tourism receipts grew to US$944
billion (euro 642 billion) in 2008, corresponding to an increase in real terms of 1.8%. “[1] The World
Tourism Organization (UNWTO) forecasts that international tourism will continue growing at the
average annual rate of 4 %. [2]

All the international institutions and companies, academic institutions and universities can benefit from
this new technology as well.

 Identifying the current and potential customers:

One of the main target markets for the instant voice-text convertor/translator device is the deaf (or
people with severe hearing problems) and blind population.

“In the USA Based on Available Federal Data and Published Research:

About 2 to 4 of every 1,000 people in the United States are "functionally deaf," though more than half
became deaf relatively late in life; fewer than 1 out of every 1,000 people in the United States became
deaf before 18 years of age. If people with a severe hearing impairment are included with those who are
deaf, then the number is 4 to 10 times higher. That is, anywhere from 9 to 22 out of every 1,000 people
have a severe hearing impairment or are deaf. Again, at least half of these people reported their hearing
loss after 64 years of age.”[3]

 Identifying the present and potential competitors:

At this point, as our initial investigation shows no other identical product has yet been introduced to the
market; however, there are other kinds of devices that can only perform one of the two tasks:
converting text to voice or do the translation. An integrated device (such as the proposed one in this
business plan) that would do both of these tasks almost simultaneously has not yet been developed.

 Initial research and consultation on the basic idea and its feasibility:

All the necessary technologies for producing this new idea are already available. That’s how the instant
translators and Voice-text convertor devices are already introduced to market, separately.

Thus, for this new technology, there would not be much technological development, instead the main
work would be to integrate all these existing technologies into one and produce a device that can
replace all those devices.

 looking at the spin off technology

In future, this technology can be added to land line phones and cellphones. This would make the
conversations between two people with different languages much more convenient. Also this way,
people with hearing problems can use phones, since this technology converts the conversations over the
phone to text format.

Tasks in progress:
To complete the overall business plan for the proposed technology, the following tasks are still under
progress:

 looking for any possible legal problem with respect to developing such product
 Setting up the basic organization/ define the key management personnel’s responsibilities
 Figuring out the Critical Risk/problem & Assumptions associated with this technology and its
market
 Solving any possible current/ potential legal issues
Remaining tasks:
We are yet to finalize the actual physical format for this device, and how it gets implemented. Also in
terms of marketing, we are yet to decide what marketing strategy would best fit this technology. We
also need to address all the issues with respect to the services and warranty policies, the advertising and
promotions. We also need to define the management compensation & ownership in near future and
finalize the suitable sale tactics.

One of the main remaining tasks -basically a tool which helps us to do the remaining task better- that
probably would not fit in the time table ( ̴the budget) of this business plan, but would have a great
effect on the resulting product, is to contact the potential markets/customers and ask for their opinion
on such device. One way to do so is to run a survey among the potential costumers, which would ask for
their degree of willingness to purchase such device and what they would think as an appropriate price
for such technology. Such survey would help us to come up with a better marketing strategy as we might
end up with different pricing strategies for different groups of costumers.

However, these kinds of surveys should be done in a way that it would expose as little information as
possible regarding the new idea, for a better protection of the idea in future.
References:

[1] 2.^ a b c d "UNWTO World Tourism Barometer June 2009". UNWTO World Tourism Barometer (World
Tourism Organization) 7 (2). June 2009.
[Link] Retrieved 3 August
2009.

[2] ^ "Long-term Prospects: Tourism 2020 Vision". World Tourism. 2004. [Link]
[Link]/market_research/facts/market_trends.htm.

[3] [Link] _ Last visit on Oct.29th 2010